DECADES OF SERVICE CHOP CHOP!

KYRIAKOS, 87, IS ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S OLDEST BARBERS

- By Emma Levett

After trimming, clipping and cutting thousands of heads of hair over the last 71 years, Kyriakos Vasilis has heard many a tale.

But the 87-year-old, who was once one of Sydney's most celebrated barbers, has his own story to tell when asked how he got into the profession.

"I was 16 when I left Cyprus. I came to join my parents in Sydney, but I was too young to go to work and too old for school," Kyriakos tells New Idea.

After stints at a glass factory and then washing bottles, his fortunes finally changed with a job at a corn beef factory.